Headlines
Information commissioner quits over Maharashtra Sadan scam
Mumbai, June 29
The ongoing investigation into
the multi-crore Maharashtra Sadan scam claimed its first major victim
in Information Commissioner D.B. Deshpande of the Aurangabad Division as
he quit under a cloud, officials said here on Monday.
Maharashtra
Governor C.V. Rao accepted Deshpande's resignation following his
alleged involvement in the scam in which the names of former deputy
chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal and others have also surfaced.
"The
governor has accepted the resignation of state Information
Commissioner, Aurangabad, D. B. Deshpande. Deshpande had submitted his
resignation to the governor on June 23," said a Raj Bhavan spokesperson.
Deshpande
was appointed to the post in 2010. His name figures in a first
information report filed by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau
against Bhujbal and 16 others, including Deshpande.
The scam pertains to the awarding of a contract for constructing Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi a few years ago.
During
ACB raids it was revealed that Deshpande owned five flats, three in
Pune, and one each in Thane and Aurangabad. It was also found that he
owned a five hectare farmhouse, four plots and two shops in Aurangabad
besides two shops in Nashik.
Deshpande was among the nine
officials besides Bhujbal, whose residential and office premises were
searched in Maharashtra last fortnight.